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2007-12-27 MyRF Tag Empowering Location Tracking Solution in Healthcare & Manufacturing Industry

Press Release

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - December 27, 2007 - Real time location systems (RTLS) are the fastest-growing RFID application most people have never heard of.

For centuries organizations have faced the challenge of locating and tracking inventory and assets by brute force. The activity of receiving, storing and issuing inventory items and tracking the use and location of capital assets has remained essentially unchanged. Whether by quill and scroll; pencil and clip board; or bar code scanner and database, the process is fundamentally the same: receive items, put them away, refer to some kind of list and then find them. Along the way items get misplaced, moved, lost, or forgotten. Some organizations have described their warehouse inventory process as moving products from one black hole to another.

Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) are fully automated systems that continually monitor the locations of assets and personnel. An RTLS solution typically utilizes battery-operated radio tags and a cellular locating system to detect the presence and location of the tags. The locating system is usually deployed as a matrix of locating devices that are installed at a spacing of anywhere from 50 to 1000 feet. These locating devices determine the locations of the radio tags.

The systems continually update the database with current tag locations as frequently as every several seconds or as infrequently as every few hours for items that seldom move. The frequency of tag location updates may have implications for the number of tags that can be deployed and the battery life of the tag. In typical applications, systems can track thousands of tags simultaneously and the average tag battery life can be five or more years.

"The market for these systems, which use active RFID or WiFi-enabled tags to track the location of assets and personnel in real time, exceeded US$200 million in 2004. The market is expected to reach US$2.7 billion by 2016," according to T.Mhanoj, Chief Executive Officer of MyRF Tag Sdn Bhd.

Speed, accuracy, visibility and efficiency are driving the RTLS market. "If you look across the healthcare, manufacturing, logistics and transportation industry, there's a huge need for real-time information," says T.Mhanoj. "The ability to accurately track inventory and personnel with real-time information creates operational efficiency."

Common Applications

The real value of RTLS is not the technology; but rather the application of the technology in real world practice. Leading companies and organizations are rapidly adopting RTLS to achieve measurable improvements in operations. RTLS supports software alarms to provide notification when something has moved. For instance, a tag on a high value asset can signal an alert if the asset starts to move so that it can be located and stopped before it is removed from the facility. Or a tag on a process control batch can trigger an alert if the batch does not move to the next process within a specified period of time.

RTLS is Prime for Healthcare industry

Facing greater scrutiny from regulators and payers, healthcare organizations are under tremendous pressure to improve efficiency without sacrificing patient care. To maximize their use of existing capital equipment, minimize lost or stolen assets, and increase the productivity of their employees, many healthcare organizations are seeking ways to quickly find and track their valuable assets and ensure those assets remain in the facility. That means finding the motorized wheelchair, portable pacemaker, infusion pump, or other expensive equipment in a streamlined, decentralized model and making sure that the individual leaving the building with a valuable piece of equipment actually has the right to do so.

Other challenges arise from finding people. At critical times, find doctors, nurses, orderlies, or patients without delay. Finally, security issues are a key concern. Certain patients - such as those under psychiatric care, Alzheimer's victims, patients with highly communicable diseases, patients under protective custody, or newborn babies - require extra measures to ensure their safety.

RTLS tags are affixed to mobile assets to locate them instantly and track their usage and movement over time. Valuable assets can be found from any PC connected to the network. Find the nearest wheelchair or portable X-ray machine - and send an orderly to retrieve it expeditiously. Identify under-used equipment - before making unnecessary capital purchases. And prevent loss or unauthorized off-premises use of equipment.

Locate Hospital Personnel Instantly: For greater productivity and efficiency, RTLS tags are affixed to standard personnel and visitor badges. Any networked PC can be used to find the orthopedist who's nearest the emergency room or the orderly who can bring the newly admitted patient to their ward. Track each individual's movements through a historical audit trail. Personnel tags can even be associated with other asset tags for "authorized" or "unauthorized" proximity. Set alarms and log activities if people - such as a visitor or contractor - are in unauthorized locations or possess assets that do not belong to them.

Track Patients and Keep Them Safe: RTLS personnel tags provide an ideal solution to locating patients and hospital personnel. Now, any nurse, doctor, or orderly can instantly locate a patient and, if necessary, determine where they have been. This can minimize idle time in operating suites, labs, and clinics, saving hundreds of man-hours each month. What's more, RTLS can ensure safety and security for patients that require additional precautions, such as Alzheimer's, psychiatric, or neonatal patients, by triggering alarms if the patients leave designated zones.

RTLS is Gaining Momentum in Manufacturing Industry

Businesses need faster cycle times, lower costs and greater efficiency. But new demands for build-to-order products with ever-shrinking lead times require more timely and accurate information. Efficient manufacturing requires instant, continuous, and precise knowledge of parts availability, and work-in-process status. RTLS provides total visibility of parts, tools, WIP, finished goods inventory and personnel as they move throughout the factory.

Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) bring new levels of cost effectiveness and efficiency to manufacturing and supply chain management by enabling businesses to locate, track, secure and inventory their assets. Thousands of high-value assets are managed, including raw materials, sub-assemblies, work in process and finished goods. Mobile resources - people or portable equipment - are located. Assets moving through the manufacturing process are continuously visible.

RTLS tags affixed to inventory, parts, goods and machines are visible through the factory - from receiving raw materials to assembling or machining work-in-process inventory, to finished goods packaging, to shipping. On a LAN or through the web, asset location is instantly available, including where it has been and who has handled it. RTLS provides an audit trail to determine queue lengths and cycle times, which are leveraged to eliminate process bottlenecks, reduce lead times and increase inventory turns.

New Technologies

There are two types of RTLS technology in the market today. The conventional type involves proprietary active RFID tags and a software engine to determine where the assets and personnel are located. On the other hand, the most interesting RTLS systems are being built on top of emerging Wi-Fi networks, with considerable success.